In this section

Overview

Ann Young Black counsels financial services clients on a broad range of insurance, securities, and business issues. She regularly advises clients developing new and innovative life and annuity products and on the insurance and securities issues impacting those products. Ann also advises clients on the laws and regulations regarding the sale, distribution, issuance, administration and operation of, and benefit payment practices related to, these products. Clients also seek Ann's guidance on InsurTech initiatives, including the use of big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning and tech driven customer engagement ventures.

Many of Ann's clients develop innovative life and annuity contracts, and have sought her advice on state insurance law and IIPRC requirements or limitations on the products’ innovative terms and features. She regularly reviews new product specifications and works with product actuaries on the new product’s pricing or risk mitigation features. She has advised on the status of some products as securities. She also advises clients as to their development or use of hedge funds within insurance products.

Ann counsels financial service clients on the federal and state securities and insurance regulations governing sales, marketing, and distribution of various financial products. More recently, she has been guiding financial service clients on the impact of proposed and adopted federal and state regulation with respect to the duty of care, including the Department of Labor's amendment to the definition of fiduciary and related exemptions with respect to the distribution of variable and fixed annuity products to fund retirement plans and individual retirement accounts. To the extent that the distribution arrangements require new business relationships, she advises clients on the contractual issues.

Ann also advises a wide variety of other clients on: i) legal structure, formation and contractual issues; and ii) securities, insurance, and derivatives regulatory matters in a variety of transactions.

Experience

Designed and advised on the status of fixed declared rate annuities with market value adjustments and fixed index annuities under Section 3(a)(8) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Harkin Amendment.

Designed and drafted innovative life and annuity contracts, including fixed index products with unique index crediting options and guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits, structured index products, contingent deferred annuities or synthetic annuities to be sold with managed accounts, and bank owned and corporate owned life insurance contracts that include stable value features. This also includes advising on various state and insurance issues, including insurable interest, classification as life insurance, and filing issues.

Developed suitability programs and procedures to comply with the NAIC Suitability in Annuity Transaction Model and state variations.

Assessed various distribution arrangements' compliance with the Department of Labor's amendment to the definition of fiduciary and related exemptions.

Performed risk analysis of products, sales materials, and suitability and replacements programs based on current actions by state attorney generals and insurance regulatory authorities.

Advised on and respond to attorney general and state insurance regulatory authority investigations and market conduct examinations, including subsequent litigation proceedings.

Advised on a variety of insurance regulatory matters, including: (i) point of sale requirements, including suitability analysis, replacement requirements, and disclosures; (ii) advertising and marketing of life and annuity products, including contract summaries, life and annuity illustrations, television advertisements, and global branding campaigns; (iii) product design, including required provisions for individual and group life and annuity products and nonforfeiture issues; (iv) insurable interest; (v) eligible groups and group coverage issues; (vi) producer, third party administrator and managing general agent licensing, audit and oversight and other related regulatory requirements; and (vii) discrimination, rebating, and other unfair trade practice issues.

Negotiated and draft various insurance service and insurance administrative contracts. .

Disclaimer

The information on this website is presented as a service for our clients and Internet users and is not intended to be legal advice, nor should you consider it as such. Although we welcome your inquiries, please keep in mind that merely contacting us will not establish an attorney-client relationship between us. Consequently, you should not convey any confidential information to us until a formal attorney-client relationship has been established. Please remember that electronic correspondence on the internet is not secure and that you should not include sensitive or confidential information in messages. With that in mind, we look forward to hearing from you.